56 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



birds which we want to exterminate, and also birds which 

 we want to preserve, so that they shall be taught what birds 

 to kill and what not to kill. A few lessons of that kind 

 given every year would excite an interest, and I think be the 

 means of exterminating obnoxious birds and animals, and 

 preserving those which it is advantageous to preserve. 



Mr. Nathan Edson of Barnstable. I would like to ask 

 the doctor if he can give us some good plan by which we 

 can exterminate the crow with poison. 



Dr. Warren. I have never had any opportunity for 

 extended experience in destroying crows with poisons ; but 

 I know it is a common custom in different parts of Pennsyl- 

 vania in the spring for farmers to destroy crows by taking 

 an egg, breaking the shell at one end, and dropping into the 

 orifice some strychnine. I have known a single egg treated 

 in this way to kill three crows. In this case the egg was 

 put on top of a stone in a field three hundred yards away 

 from the house, and in less than three-quarters of an hour I 

 saw three crows visit it, and they all died inside of an hour 

 after the egg was placed there In winter, when the crows 

 come in large flocks to some favorite roosting place, you 

 might poison them in this way if it was not cold enough to 

 freeze the eggs. 



Mr. J. H. Rowley of Egremont. I would like to inquire 

 if our crows are migratory. 



Dr. Warren. The crow is a resident bird ; that is, a bird 

 that is found in a given locality during every month of the 

 year. If food is abundant on a particular farm, the crows 

 will live on that farm the year round ; if food is scarce, then 

 necessity compels them to go elsewhere in order to find it. 



Mr. Fitch. I simply want to say one word in support of 

 the suggestion of my friend Bowkcr. I had occasion to go 

 into a certain high school some few months ago, and I 

 thought I would take with me something that I might use. 

 As I went along I picked a few leaves of the red oak and 

 white oak, a few leaves from an apple tree, and perhaps 

 half a dozen other kinds. After I had been in the school a 

 little while, and had heard a recitation wherein certain of the 

 pupils named certain of the stars, — Regulus, Arcturus, 

 Aldebaran, and so on, — I took out a few leaves, held them 



